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Easier Forgiveness Announced for Federal Student Loan Relief Programs

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) released final regulations that streamline and improve the rules for major targeted debt relief programs. The regulations expand eligibility, remove barriers to relief, and encourage automatic discharges for borrowers eligible for loan relief because their school closed, they have a total and permanent disability, or their loan was falsely …

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Maybe You Can Forget About Paying Back 50% of Your Student Loans

Get Out of Debt Guy, an online debt counseling site operated by Steve Rhode, recently received a request for advice from Rose, a graduate of St. George University Medical School. Rose now owes more than half a million dollars in student loans. Rose said her education quality was fine, but the medical school misrepresented the cost. …

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ITT Federal Student Loans Wiped Away. Private Loans, Not So Fast. DeVry to Pay Up.

I Cosigned for My Grandson Who is Now Behind on Payments

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced that it will discharge all remaining federal student loans that borrowers received to attend ITT Technical Institute (ITT) from January 1, 2005, through its closure in September 2016. The decision, which follows Departmental findings based on extensive internal records, testimony from ITT managers and recruiters, and first-hand …

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Can I Apply for Borrower Defense if I’m in PSLF for Loan Forgiveness?

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Question: Dear Steve, I just found out my school is now one of the schools part of the Borrower Defense lawsuit, Chicago School of Professional Psychology. I’m currently under the PSLF program, needing four more years until forgiveness. If I apply for the Borrower Defense discharge, will it affect my current PSLF application? Bill Answer: …

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Are You One of These Students That Will Have Their Federal Student Loans Forgiven And Get All Payments Back?

The Department of Education has agreed to settle a case that began under the Trump Department of Education on June 25, 2019. The settlement is just awaiting Court approval. In that case, the Department of Education was accused of unreasonably delaying and withholding decisions on Borrower Defense to Repayment claims submitted by federal student loan …

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FTC Opens the Door to More Defense to Repayment Claims for Student Loan Forgiveness

The FTC made the announcement below that seems to open the door for students with federal student loans to explore the possibility of applying for a Borrower Defense Loan Discharge. The Federal Trade Commission put 70 for-profit higher education institutions on notice that the agency is cracking down on any false promises they make about …

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Sweet v. DeVos: Judge Calls Education Department’s Borrow-Defense Process “Kafkaesque”

In 2019, a group of student-loan debtors filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Claiming to represent more than 100,000 student-loan borrowers, the plaintiffs accused DOE of issuing “blanket refusal[s]” when students tried to have their student loans forgiven based on claims they had been defrauded by the …

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I Was Homeless, Mentally Ill, Disabled, and Desperate But They Enrolled Me

Question: Dear Steve, Under borrower defense to repayment rules, my student loans should evaporate, but collection agencies keep selling the account to each other, and they bother me always. Why do I think borrower defense to repayment applies? The college recruiter and the head of the Financial Aid Department at Greenville College lied to me …

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Can We Still Submit Borrower Defense to Repayment Applications?

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Question: Dear Steve, I recently watched a video of you on youtube discussing the “Borrowers Defense” for student loans. The video was published in 2016 and I just became aware of borrowers defense today 10/19/20. 2 part question Can we still submit Borrower Defense to Repayment applications? If so, what information do we need to …

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Deceived Student Loan Debtors Victim Punished by DeVos and Trump

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Personally, I feel for the student loan debtors trapped between the Obama Department of Education and the Trump Department of Education under Betsy DeVos, and by extension, President Trump. He is her boss and in charge. On June 25, 2019, a class-action lawsuit was filed to resolve the claims made by defrauded students for federal …

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